A promised refurb of a crumbling London hospital may not happen before 2030 despite claims from a local MP that it will.
Chelsea and Fulham MP Greg Hands has been accused of being “deeply disingenuous” about the fate of refurbishments at Charing Cross Hospital after the plans were pushed back beyond 2030.
Ben Coleman, who is vying for Mr Hands’ seat, claimed there was no money set aside to carry out the much needed works by the end of the decade and called on Tory MP to withdraw leaflets claiming it had been.
Mr Coleman, who is also the deputy leader of Hammersmith and Fulham council, said: “Mr Hands is being deeply disingenuous. In his leaflet, he says he has secured funding for the floor-by-floor refurbishment of Charing Cross.
“This is not true. He has not secured funding. The truth is there is no money set aside, no timetable for [a] floor-by-floor refurbishment.”
A leaflet distributed over the weekend showed Mr Hands standing outside Charing Cross Hospital with the words: “Funding Secure. We’re investing in a floor-by-floor refurbishment of Charing Cross Hospital. Delivering our plan for Chelsea and Fulham”.
The latest leaflet handed out over the weekend claimed funding had been secured.
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The brochure claimed a new energy centre was being built to “make Charing Cross hospital greener, sustainable and more cost effective”. It also quoted the Health Minister saying that the “full refurbishment of Charing Cross Hospital” and St Mary’s would continue.
However, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust said it has not received a single penny of Mr Hands’ alleged funds.
A source at the Trust said health bosses have not yet submitted a business case for a major refurb and were confused as to how the local MP was able to secure funding for a project that had not been assessed by the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC).
The DHSC is in charge of handing out funds as part of the New Hospital Programme (NHP) to build 40 new hospitals across England by 2030.
The Trust also claims it is unaware of money being made available for a new energy centre, which would need to be build before a major refurb takes place. This includes temporary wards, which the hospital is set to get under current funding rules.
They said the funding for Charing Cross Hospital’s rebuild “lacks clarity” and that the vast majority of capital needed – which is in the billions – won’t be available until 2030.
Mr Coleman also accused the Health Secretary, Steve Barclay, of scrapping the major refurb during Thursday’s announcement in parliament.
Steve Barclay told the Commons the hospital, alongside seven others, were being bumped to a “rolling programme” because of delays associated with Covid and inflation.
Charing Cross, St Mary’s and Hammersmith Hospitals were all set to have refurbs completed by 2030 under the programme.
But a source at the Trust claims the planned works cannot go ahead until new funding is released, which isn’t expected before 2030.
DHSC said no money can be set aside until Imperial Trust submits its business case for a major refurb. It has promised to allocate funds following the next spending review.
Mr Hands said: “It is absolutely outrageous for Hammersmith and Fulham Council to be using council taxpayers’ resources to be putting wholly wrong claims that the floor-by-floor refurbishment has been scrapped, just hours after it was confirmed by the Health Secretary in the House of Commons, by Twitter and by thousands of emails to residents.
“The Council must release an immediate correction to these wholly false claims”.
Mr Hands did not respond to the claim that funding for Charing Cross Hospitals’ refurbishment had not been secured.
A Hammersmith and Fulham Council spokesperson said: “The government has scrapped its pledge to refurbish Charing Cross and stopped vital planned improvements to other West London hospitals.”
A spokesperson from Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust said: “We are at an early stage of planning for the major Charing Cross Hospital refurbishment/new build scheme within the New Hospital Programme – we are on track to submit the first level business case for approval this autumn.
“We do not yet know when we will be able to start work.”
They said the change announced last week meant its sites are no longer included in the commitment to deliver 40 schemes by 2030. Instead, work will start over the next two years with an end expected after 2030.
On Tuesday, Mr Coleman said: “In 2019 the government cited Charing Cross/Imperial as part of the NHP to be completed by 2030. But the Health Secretary on Thursday confirmed that the NHP was now going ahead with £20bn in secure funding for 40 hospitals, including five new projects.
“He explicitly stated that Charing Cross/Imperial is no longer on that list of 40 and is part of a list that should continue to work on their business cases and ‘may now fully complete construction after 2030’.
“It is deeply disingenuous of Mr Hands to claim that he secured funding when he hasn’t and the truth is the Charing Cross/Imperial work is now, at best, delayed.”
Previously, Mr Hands said construction at the crumbling hospital was set to go ahead next year after survey works are done.
He said on Friday: “The Department for Health and Social Care – including Ministers – have had many discussions with Imperial NHS Trusts [sic], and I am delighted to see it confirmed in the Commons by the Health Secretary [Thursday] that the floor-by-floor refurbishment will be going ahead.
“This will start next year, subject to survey works. It is high time Labour stopped doing down with the NHS and got behind the New Hospital Programme.”
But Hammersmith MP Andy Slaughter said Thursday’s announcement meant there was now no committed funding or a date by which the works at Charing Cross Hospital will be done.
He said Mr Hands’ comments were “wholly untrue” and challenged claims by DHSC that the West London hospitals would receive funding following the next spending review.
He said: “That’s the spin line and it is meaningless. After the next spending review means there is no money for our hospitals and may never be. This is worse than I thought.”
He added:“Cutting funding for Imperial is terrible for Hammersmith and Fulham residents and the NHS. Pretending the cuts aren’t happening adds insult to injury.”
The Department for Health and Social Care said £20bn was being invested to rebuild hospitals across the country and that five were being prioritised because they were not safe to operate beyond 2030 due to disintegrating RAAC, reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete.
The Department’s website suggested this change in plans and the cost of construction materials meant the three West London hospitals will now be completed after 2030.
Health leaders claim the funds are still below the £32 billion needed to complete works on 40 new hospitals pledged by the government, according to the Health Services Journal.
On Sunday, the health minister also admitted the government will not build 40 new hospitals by 2030 but carry out “a range of things” including new wings and refurbishments.
Mr Coleman said his opponent owed Imperial NHS Healthcare Trust an explanation.
He said: “If he is serious that refurbishment is still going ahead, Mr Hands needs to pick up the phone to the chief executive of Imperial NHS Trust and tell him when he‘ll get the money and when he can book the builders in.”
According to the Clinical Negligence & Catastrophic Injury Solicitors who analysed NHS data, the hospital with the largest high-risk backlog is Charing Cross where it is said to cost £155 million to eradicate all the serious safety and maintenance issues.
The next are St Mary’s Hospital, which is set to cost £126 million, and Hammersmith Hospital, expected to cost £68 million.
Professor Tim Orchard, chief executive of Imperial Trust, said last week’s announcement did not “reflect our understanding of next steps on the urgently needed redevelopment of our hospitals.”
He said the Trust was exploring ways to claw back the funding so works can finish before 2030. He said: “If we waited until 2030 to start building works at St Mary’s, it would become impossible to continue to patch up our oldest facilities, many of which house key clinical services.
“As the provider of London’s busiest major trauma centre and host of the NHS’s largest biomedical research centre, that would be hugely damaging for the health and healthcare of hundreds of thousands of people.”
Westminster councillor Nafsika Butler-Thalassis, cabinet member for health, said: “We share the view of Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust that it is not viable to wait until 2030 to begin works on a new St Mary’s, as it simply can’t keep being patched up.
“We’re working with health colleagues to get clarity on the situation and are writing to the Secretary of State.
“We will work, with the Trust, to help secure the full-rebuild needed to protect this vital health resource in the heart of our city, with the necessary investment that has been promised for so long.”
